Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment releases report on methane.

The Report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on methane emissions which is in the form of a ‘Note’ by Andy Reisinger is more confirmation of how confused scientists are about methane and its impact on global warming.

The Government has no option but to pull methane emissions out of the Carbon Zero Bill.

Report after report has debunked the validity of the system our politicians use to quantify methane and the latest ‘Note’ by Andy Reisinger as published by the Parliamentary Commissioner is just one more.

It is a modelling exercise rather than scientific research and it is consistent with most recent reports in finding that livestock emissions of methane do not need to be eliminated in the same way CO2 emissions do. This means the politicians have to rethink how methane emissions are treated and dump the current system of carbon accounting which does not differentiate between short lived and long lived emissions and is simply without credibility.

Reisinger’s note however sheds little light on what a correct treatment of livestock emissions is. He confirms that atmospheric methane will not increase once methane emissions are stable but suggests that indirect effects of methane will cause further warming.

This is highly contentious and Simon Upton has indicated he has released this modelling report to contribute to the scientific debate. This invites a rethink and an analysis of what is known and not known about methane.

Pastural Farming Climate Research welcomes the reopening of the scientific debate in to methane and is hopeful that the politicians will not be duped once more by the climate scientists in to adopting another flawed system. Reisinger’s note finds methane emissions need to reduce based on his modelling exercise which poses more questions than it provides answers and combines old and new methodology rather than adopting new methodology.

This is a big topic for New Zealand and deserves more than a modelling exercise. Pastural Farming Climate Research urges the Government to pull methane emissions out of the Carbon Zero Bill until such time as New Zealand scientists can identify a credible way to quantify the impacts of methane that is based on more than a model.